CAREER: Diversity Directed Fluorescence Sensor Development

纽约大学张英泰教授得到分析和表面化学职业计划的支持，创建细胞器和大分子组件荧光染色指示剂的组合库。PI将合成一个新的荧光苯乙烯基染料文库，这些染料将作为荧光探针在细胞器中进行生物定位，对生物大分子进行选择性反应，并开发一种用于低响应小分子分析的人造“舌头”方法。PI已经准备了一个苯乙烯基染料库，并开发了一个颜色预测的数学模型。这项工作将通过增加苯乙酰部分周围的结构元素的多样性来扩大这个文库。他将通过已经使用的相同的溶液相化学来实现这一点，并开发新的固态相化学。这项研究工作背后的关键思想是所谓的多样性定向传感器方法，该方法认为位于荧光苯乙烯基染料部分周围的各种结构元素将改变染料与细胞细胞器或生物大分子之间非共价相互作用的选择性。由此产生的识别元件将在各种传感和化学成像应用中得到应用。对活细胞进行化学成像的目标是一个巨大的挑战。小分子的产生使细胞的不同部分在显微镜下“发光”，这是揭示细胞化学组成的关键之一。这项研究将扩大我们生产这些染料分子的能力。其中一个应用是检测神经组织中的淀粉样蛋白，这种物质被认为是导致阿尔茨海默氏症等疾病的原因。PI让高中生、大学生和研究生参与这项跨学科的研究，使他们能够在科学文献上发表文章。

Professor Young-Tae Chang of New York University is supported by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry CAREER Program to create combinatorial libraries of indicators for fluorescent staining of organelles and macro-molecular assemblies. The PI will synthesize a library of new fluorescent styryl dyes that will be investigated as fluorescent probes for biological localization in cell organelles, selective response to biological macromolecules, and for the development of an artificial "tongue" approach for low response small molecule analytes. The PI has already prepared a library of styryl dyes and developed a mathematical model for color prediction. This work will expand this library by increasing the diversity of structural elements around the styryl moiety. He will do this through the same solution phase chemistry already utilized, as well as develop new solid-state phase chemistry. The key idea behind this research work is the so-called Diversity Directed Sensor approach, which holds that the various structural elements located around the fluorescent styryl dye moiety will vary the selectivity of noncovalent interactions between the dyes and cell organelles or biological macromolecules. The resulting recognition elements will have applications in various sensing and chemical imaging applications.The goal to chemically image a living cell is a grand challenge. Production of small molecules that cause varying parts of the cell to "light up" under a microscope hold one key to revealing the chemical makeup of the cell. This research will expand our capacity to produce these dye molecules. One application is the detection of amyloids in neural tissue, which are thought to cause diseases such as Alzheimer's. The PI engages high school, college and graduate students in this interdisciplinary research, enabling them to publish in the scientific literature.